THIS Close...
by Firenzie
Summary: This is just some weird little idea I had in my head. It's a...Ioriyako or whatever the heck you call a Cody/Yolei. There's also a little Kouyako-ness, but this isn't much of a romance fic, as nothing really ends with them happily together, and there's on


THIS Close...  
By Firenze  
  
A/N: This is sort of a Kouyako for like two seconds and kind of a Cody/Yolei, which would be called an Ioriyako or something. But there's nothing big for either one. Still, if you're not open to them, stop reading. And for the heck of it, I'll use their Japanese names, since I like the name Miyako, Koushiro's all right, and Iori is just...there. But I won't try any Japanese, because its all leaked out my memory...and I didn't know very many words to begin with (and just so everyone knows, I used to live in Japan). Anyway, this is just a short (though I'll probably stretch three notebook pages into ten computer pages) fic that popped into my head around midnight (when all my ideas come to me). And I threw in some stuff that ~*Liz*~ (formerly Pokemaniac, soon to be Mystic Fire or something) and I were talking about, like Yolei's brother in a towel and shtuff.  
  
Disclaimer: The Inoues, Cody, and Izzy belong to Toei, and Saban, and all those other super rich companies, not a fanfic writer (and a poor one at that) such as myself. [Just when you thought I wouldn't insult myself or my fics...]  
  
***  
  
Ding-dong!  
  
Iori Hida waited patiently outside the door to the Inoue's apartment. He often came over to Miyako's house. A smile came to his face when he remembered the very first time he visited. Miyako was running crazily around, trying to fix up her house. She kept yelling at her older brother to put some clothes on, since he was walking around wearing only a towel. And when dinner rolled around and dessert came, Miyako and her one of her sisters kept squabbling over the cookies. The main reason why Iori was smiling so much was because after so many years, not a single thing had changed.  
  
Miyako heard the doorbell. "Oh, it's Iori!" She took one glance around her room and then the rest of the house, and a small shriek came out. "No, no, it's so messy!" She tossed some of her extra junk under her bed and into her closet. She dug under a pile of dirty laundry and shoved it in the hamper.  
  
She kept thinking...what if Poyomon had still been there? Her fluffy, pink, bird-ish, in-training digimon was so cute and a great companion. "What are you doing?" he would ask curiously, in his funny, high-pitched voice. She shook her head sadly. Two years had passed since they had left the Digital World...permanently, it seemed, but it had the first time, yet the older Digidestined got to go back sometimes after the Chosen Children came... *Will there be another set of Digidestined? Can we ever go back? Can I ever see Hawkmon again? And Halsemon, and Shurimon, and...*  
  
"Miyako, what are you doing?"  
  
Ugh, now she only had her brother to question her actions. "Fixing up my room, what does it look like?"  
  
"Like you left your friend Iori at the door while you're 'cleaning your room'." Seems more like you're daydreaming about boys or something," he said.  
  
She got her pillow and threw it at him. "Geez, do us all a favor and put some clothes on!" The doorbell rang a fifth time, and she dashed to answer it.  
  
*Hmmm...they've got to be home. Miyako said she wasn't doing anything. But what if there was some sort of accident? And they had to rush to the hospital? Or...or...*  
  
The door quickly opened. "I'm sorry, Iori," she apologized. "I was just trying to clean up all the mess."  
  
*...or just being typical Miyako. I wonder why she just never cleans the house in advance...* He nodded. "It's all right. But you don't have to worry about the house being spotless. I've been here a million times."  
  
"I know, I just don't feel right having guests in a pigsty of an environment. Maybe the rest of my family is okay with it, but then again, the rest of my family is pretty weird." She finally let him in the house.  
  
*You could say that again,* Iori thought. *But the tidiness of her home doesn't matter to me. Her dysfunctional family doesn't bother me. The only reason why I ever come to the Inoue's...different...yes, different home is for one reason: the most kindhearted, sincere, beautiful girl in the world -- Miyako.* Miyako and Iori had long been close friends, and that was the extent of their relationship together. They had gotten older, and Iori's feelings began to slowly move past that...though he could never admit it to anyone, he had a crush on her...and he was possibly starting to fall in love. *I know I'm still sort of young, but I've known her for the longest time...most of my life, even. I guess it's only natural to feel this way, since she's the girl I'm the closest to...*  
  
"Iori? Hello? Earth to Iori?" Miyako waved a hand in front of his face. "Are you still here? You look all dazed out, the way Takeru said Hikari looked when she was transported to the Digiworld without her D3 or anything, because of the Scubamon. Are you all right?" She put her hand over his forehead. "Well, you don't have a high temperature or anything. Is something wrong that you're not telling me?"  
  
He shook his head vigorously. "No, no, it's not that." *The only thing wrong with me is that my heart can't stop pounding twice as fast as its normal rate and my palms are beginning to sweat...and it's all because you're touching me.*  
  
She shrugged. "All right then." She knew how extremely hard it was for Iori to tell a lie, and if it wasn't for a good reason, it was nearly impossible. So she wouldn't try to press it out of him.  
  
*Whew, good thing I didn't have to tell a lie.* He shuddered. *I just didn't tell the whole truth exactly...*  
  
She walked into her room and he followed.  
  
"It's so clean," he noticed.  
  
Miyako sweat-dropped. "Hehe, uhhh...yeah." And at that instant, her closet door, which was so crammed full it was practically bending, flew open and tons of junk came falling out. She panicked, but worked furiously to hide it. "Hm, I wonder where all that stuff came from!" She nervously giggled, but then dashed forward and set on shoving everything back in her closet.  
  
*I wonder why she's so paranoid about cleanliness...*  
  
"Well anyway," she began, rushing to change the subject, "ummm...want to play on my computer? I bought this new game that Koushiro recommended." Her pupils and irises turned to big pink hearts. "Oh, Koushiro..." she said with a dreamy sigh, then turned on her computer.  
  
Iori rolled his eyes; he couldn't help but feel jealous. Koushiro this, Koushiro that. Why couldn't it ever be about Iori? To distract himself, he picked up the box the computer game had come in. It had a compilation of 'FUN!' games to help improve math skills. "Calculus Cruncher? Algebra Adventures? Trigonometry Tetris? Geometry Jigsaw? Miyako, how is this fun?"  
  
"If Koushiro says it's fun, then it is. Settled." She put the CD into the CD ROM and waited as the game started. "Okay, it's ready."  
  
***  
  
The minutes pass by...  
  
"So if X+3/10(4-27)=[y/7(pi)-12]+98...what does 'y' equal?" Miyako asked, still looking extremely interested in the game.  
  
Iori yawned. "Miyako...can we please do something else?" he asked weakly, his watery eyes making the computer screen look like a huge blur or numbers and symbols. "The only adventure of algebra is a long and boring one."  
  
"Iori, if you don't want to do anything, you can always go home," she said, turning to face him.  
  
"No--I'm sorry, Miyako. I'll stay. So what was the problem again, X+5/7(23-456)= something?" he asked.  
  
"No, no, the digits were all wrong--" she started, but her computer screen froze and starting beeping and making a loud, funny buzzing noise. "Oh no, what happened?" She worriedly pushed various keys and buttons, but nothing happened. If anything, it all got worse. "What's wrong with this stupid computer? If I press these, the computer should automatically restart and...oh, if only Koushiro were here! He'd know exactly what to do!"  
  
***  
  
Ring-ring! Ring-ri--"Hello?"  
  
Miyako sighed with relief. "Thank God, Koushiro you're home! Look something strange is happening to my computer and--" She went on rambling about what had happened to her computer and everything she had done to fix it.  
  
"Well, did you just try to--" Koushiro droned on with a long set of complicated instructions. Miyako was furiously scribbling down notes of everything he said. "Then you just restart the computer and BINGO! Back in business."  
  
She laughed sheepishly. "Now why didn't I think of that? Oh, Koushiro, you're a lifesaver! Thank you SO much! Where would I be without your help? I'm so happy I could kiss you!" Iori growled and glared at her. She nervously laughed again. "Oh no, I wasn't speaking literally, you know... Huh? Girlfriend? You met her online, and it turns out she's in your computer club? Oh... Well that's wonderful, Koushiro! Yes, I'm so happy for you..."  
  
"So have you tried out the math games? Extremely fun and exciting, aren't they?" he asked.  
  
"Oh yes," she said enthusiastically. "I just couldn't stop playing! I got stuck on calculus and trigonometry, because, well, they don't teach you that kind of stuff as sophomores... Oh, but I'll keep playing! It makes learning fun! Yeah, okay. Your girlfriend, right." Her excited tone dropped to a dull, fake voice. "All right then. See you around, Koushiro. Bye." 'Click.' She sighed and hung up.  
  
After doing all the instructions he told her, she shut off her computer, slumped onto her bed and hugged her pillow. She looked down at Iori, who was practically falling asleep. "Can you believe it, Iori? A girlfriend! After all the trouble I've been going through, he has a girlfriend! Huh? Can you believe that?"  
  
"No..." he said honestly. "I really can't believe it..." *Because I've never been happier in my entire life, except when we defeated the strongest, last digimon ever! WOO HOO! Koushiro has a girlfriend, Koushiro has a girlfriend...* The words kept repeating in his head in a happy little melody.  
  
"The nerve of that girl... I'd like to meet her and give her a piece of my mind..." Miyako was grumbling, practically tearing her pillow to shreds. Soon, she was totally ignoring Iori, just furiously raging about Koushiro and his girlfriend. "...and she's probably SOOO smart and amazingly great with computers, and she might even have some good looks to boot, and then..."  
  
"Uh, Miyako, maybe I should leave," Iori said, after lots of time passed and she still continued to rant on and on.  
  
She suddenly snapped out of it. "Huh? Why?"  
  
"Well, I'm not doing anything here...and my mom might begin to worry." *Oh no, I LIED...*  
  
"Doesn't your mom know you're staying here? You could have dinner with us like you usually do--"  
  
"I dunno, my mom is sort of--" *AGH! I'm starting to lie again! NO!* His grandfather's words from so long ago raced through his memory. 'The worst thing you can do is lie...' (or something like that) He hung his head. "I can't do it. I'm sorry, Miyako. Sorry, grandfather, I lied...and, Jyou, it wasn't a good lie..."  
  
"Iori? What are you talking about?" She looked puzzled.  
  
"I'm sorry. I've been lying, because I just -- I just --"  
  
"You just -- what?"  
  
He mumbled something inaudible.  
  
Miyako strained her ears to hear, but it was impossible. "Sorry, I didn't catch that... What?"  
  
"Never mind."  
  
"No, I'd actually like to hear it," she told him.  
  
"I don't want to have to lie again," he said quietly.  
  
"So don't. Tell me the truth," she urged. "I mean, what'd you say the first time that you can't repeat a second time?"  
  
"I -- I --" *'I can't stay here listening to you go on and on about how wonderful Koushiro is and how venomous his girlfriend is, because I really, really like you?' Oh, I can't say that,* he thought. "I -- was just wondering...errr..."  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"What it would be like to kiss you." He blurted out the words straight from the top of his head, and unfortunately, they were those words. *Did I just say--?*  
  
*Did he just say what I think he said?* "Um, Iori, I..."  
  
"I'm so sorry! I think I should go, right now--!" He quickly got up to run for his life.  
  
"No, wait!" She grabbed his wrist before he could take a single step. "I mean..." She stared into his frightened green eyes, and continued softly, "Why don't we find out?" *Did I just say--?*  
  
*Did she just say what I think I heard?* he wondered in amazement. "...Really?"  
  
She nervously wrung her hands. "Sure. I'm kind of curious about my first kiss too, and since I'll probably never get it with Koushiro... I'll try it."  
  
As their heads hesitantly inched forward, they instinctively closed their eyes, and after some time, their lips finally touched gently, still reluctant. Iori finally pressed his lips against hers bravely and--  
  
The door banged open, and they jumped apart instantly. It was one of Miyako's sisters. "Iori! Your mom called, and she wants you to eat dinner at home. And Miyako, we're eating dinner now. You better hurry or else all the cookies will be gone in a snap." She stepped out and closed the door partly, but then quickly poked her head back in. "Were you two about to kiss?"  
  
They stuttered and stammered a whole bunch of unfinished sentences and answers, but she walked away, with a knowing smile on her face.  
  
"Dammit," Iori cursed under his breath. *Whoa, did I just--?*  
  
"Wow, Iori, did you just...swear? I suppose there's a first for everything..." she said thoughtfully.  
  
*Just like that kiss... Aw man, I was THIS close!* "Yeah, well... I better go, or my mom will really start to worry. See you later, Miyako."  
  
"'Bye, Iori," she said with a feeble wave. He walked off, and she couldn't help but feel confused. *I can't believe I was THIS close to kissing IORI! What's gotten into me? That was...well...different.*  
  
Iori waved goodbye to the rest of the Inoue family and walked away. Shoving his hands in his pockets, he kicked at a pebble on the ground. Finally home, he opened the door to the apartment, kicked off his shoes by the doorway, and sighed. *THIS close...*  
  
***  
  
*Coughtotalcheesinessandlamenesscough* Sorry...I think I'm coming down with something. Anyway, that was...well, different. Like it? *Crickets chirp as a tumbleweed rolls by* Hate it? *Tons of hands shoot up into the air* Okay then... Well, thanks for reading, and I'm not forcing you to, but I'd really love it if you *coughREVIEWEDcough* 


End file.
